Oxygen therapy is the administration of oxygen as a therapeutic intervention. Oxygen therapy may be used for a variety of interventions in both chronic and acute user care where an increased supply of oxygen to the lungs is needed, hence increasing the availability of oxygen to different body tissues. Oxygen therapy may be used in different environment settings including hospital and/or home depending on a user's needs.
In order to provide a user with an oxygen-enriched gas, numerous ways of administration have been suggested. A known way to provide a user with an oxygen-enriched gas is by an oxygen concentrator. Oxygen concentrators are commercially available and offered in different sizes and efficiencies as to fulfill distinctive user's needs. Those oxygen concentrators are capable of separating oxygen from ambient air, therefore providing a user with an oxygen-enriched gas and venting a nitrogen-enriched gas in the surrounding of said oxygen concentrator. Those known oxygen concentrators may provide for an “on-demand” or a continuous flow of oxygen-enriched gas.
A method for separating oxygen from an oxygen comprising gas by an oxygen concentrator is known from WO1998/56488. This document discloses that a gaseous mixture is supplied under pressure to a bed of a physical separation medium which adsorbs at least one adsorbable component and passes at least one substantially nonadsorbable component of the mixture while a second bed is being evacuated. Before reaching the capacity of the gaseous mixture supplied bed to adsorb the adsorbable component, the beds are brought toward pressure equilibrium by allowing the gas to flow (i.e., to be in fluid communication) between the beds. While a gas flow is guided between the beds, the supply of the gaseous mixture and the evacuation of the beds are reversed. That is, the gaseous mixture is supplied to the heretofore evacuated bed and the heretofore gaseous mixture-supplied bed is evacuated. Subsequent to reversing the supply of the gaseous mixture and the evacuation of the beds, the pressure equalization flow is terminated. These steps are cyclically repeated to provide continuing production of the nonadsorbable component.
It is a drawback of known oxygen concentrators that the oxygen concentration (or the purity) of the oxygen-enriched gas to be provided to the user is adversely affected by modification(s) of the operating conditions of said oxygen concentrators. There is therefore a need to improve oxygen concentrators in order to provide for a stable and continuous oxygen concentration (or purity) of the oxygen-enriched gas to be supplied to the user following modification(s) or alteration(s) of the operating conditions of said oxygen concentrators.